Graniteville

Graniteville is the name of a neighborhood in Staten Island. Largely rural well into the 20th century, Graniteville was the scene of a notable fire in March 1942, when an explosion at the Consolidated Fireworks Company on Richmond Avenue claimed the lives of five employees. Residential development in the area burgeoned soon after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened in November 1964, and today Graniteville stands at the north end of a busy commercial strip along Richmond Avenue; this strip, which extends to the vicinity of the Staten Island Mall approximately 4 miles (6 km) away, is the scene of some of the heaviest automotive traffic on Staten Island.